Club and country can make for strange bedfellows in sport.
Victoria Royals head coach Dave Lowry will be a Canadian team assistant coach at the 2015 world junior hockey championships in Toronto and Montreal.
Royals forward Axel Blomqvist hopes to make the Swedish team for the world juniors, which would have him skating against his Royals club coach.
“It would be fun to play against Dave internationally,” said Blomqvist, who joined Royals late this week after playing in the Four Nations U-20 tournament with the Swedish national team.
“It’s an honour to play for your country. It was a good experience.”
Blomqvist expressed satisfaction about his international play.
“I had a good Four Nations tournament [in which host Sweden beat Russia and the Czech Republic but lost to Finland to finish second]; and also good games in Lake Placid before that [scoring a goal and adding two assists in four U-20 games for Sweden earlier in the summer against the U.S.],” said the native of Osby.
“I think I impressed them [Swedish national coaches].”
But Blomqvist knows he must follow through.
“If I have a great first half of the season with the Royals, I hope to make the [Swedish] team for the world juniors,” he said.
So, country could rub off on club in a good way for the Royals.
It already has. Blomqvist was acquired mid-season from the Lethbridge Hurricanes and recorded 16 goals and 43 points in 46 games for Victoria in 2013-14 after starting the season with eight goals and 13 points in 19 games with the Hurricanes.
He can skate reasonably well and has a long reach, enabled by his six-foot-six frame.
That’s probably what intrigued the Winnipeg Jets, who last year signed the undrafted Swede to an entry-level NHL contract. Blomqvist is one of six Royals who will be off to NHL rookie camps next week.
“I’m just going to play my game [in Jets camp],” he said.
While the American Hockey League might be an outside possibility this season, the 19-year-old realizes the pro game will likely have to wait at least another year.
“I love Victoria and one more season here [with the Royals in the major-junior Western Hockey League] would be best for me in order to develop,” said Blomqvist. The Royals (0-2-1) continue their seven-game WHL pre-season with contests against the Kamloops Blazers today and the Kelowna Rockets on Sunday, both at Sun God Arena in Delta.
